Search form

Fragile States

Although the phenomenon of state failure is not new, it has become much more relevant and worrying than ever before. In less interconnected eras, state weakness could be isolated and kept distant. Failure had fewer implications for peace and security. Now, within a more interconnected global community these fragile states pose dangers not only to themselves and their neighbors but also to peoples around the globe. Preventing states from failing, and resuscitating those that do fail, are thus strategic and global imperatives. CIC has provided research in this arena, developed panel dicussions that have explored critical issues confronting failed states. CIC has also drawn on expertise from the practitioner, NGO, academic and UN communities, provided candid recommendations and potential solutions to the global threat that failed states present.

Related Publications

At a time of growing popular demand for representative politics, the protection of rights, and access to justice, this report by CIC's Camino Kavanagh and Dr. Bruce Jones examines the ability of the United Nations to provide 'rule of law' support to member-states and national reformers.

More and more of the world’s poor live in places affected by chronic violence and conflict. These changing dynamics have profound implications for the way that development agencies and other international actors approach their work. Development in the Shadow of Violence: A Knowledge Agenda for Policy, by Bruce Jones and Molly Elgin-Cossart, calls for a shift in development frameworks to accommodate these changes, and sets forth practical recommendations on how to do so.

In the past several years, key governments and multilateral institutions have devoted considerable effort to the task of more effectively integrating development and security policy responses to the related challenges of countries affected by conflict, post-conflict peacebuilding, and conflict prevention. The looming deadline of the Millennium Development Goals, has focused attention on this important nexus and the near impossibility of crisis- and conflict-affected states achieving these goals unless development and security is more effectively integrated.

Pages

Programs

Past Events

As the displacement of Syrians and other refugees in Turkey becomes increasingly protracted with no quick solution to the conflict in Syria in sight, overstretching the resources and capacities for the refugee response to its limits, formulating strategies and solutions to address the medium to long-term needs of refugees and host communities becomes increasingly vital.